Mega Man X: Dark Revival
by MenacingRelic98
Summary: This is a story about the trickery of Sigma and the return of Iris. Sigma drops a hint that Iris is alive, and Zero must uncover the truth. Rated T for some bad language and some violent scenes. And yes, it is ZeroxIris. Join Zero and his ally/friend Axl as they save Iris from the clutches of evil!


Megaman X: Dark Revival

A Megaman X fan fiction by MenacingRelic98

It was a cloudy, but not rainy, day in the city. Once again, Sigma was attacking. X, Axl, and Zero were naturally handling the situation. They easily defeated him, and this time it was Zero's turn to bring him to jail. They put Sigma in chains, and Zero dragged him away. "You really thought that you could beat us this time, Sigma? You're lucky you're being brought in alive!" Zero quipped. "Well, if I weren't being brought in alive, you would never get to hear about your little sweetie pie." Sigma replied. Zero was confused. "What are you talking about?" Zero questioned. "Oh, do you not remember? Or is it that you don't understand what I'm trying to tell you?" Sigma remarked. Zero was taking note of everything Sigma was saying, but he still didn't understand. "What are you getting at?!" Zero yelled. "Hee hee hee…you'll know soon enough." Sigma replied, a wide smile on his face. They would have continued to converse, but by that point they were at the prison. "Goodbye, dirtbag." Zero snapped. After that, some maverick hunters came and took Sigma from Zero. However, Zero couldn't help but wonder what Sigma meant by all of that.

Zero was essentially flipping through his memories like one would the pages of a book, trying to see if anything made since with what Sigma said. It seemed to Zero like there was a fog that just couldn't be cleared, when finally, it hit him. Sigma was talking about _Iris_. But why? "I may have loved her, but she's dead now. I had to kill her to defend myself. I'll never forgive myself for that. Still, why would Sigma bring her up? I mean, she's dead…right?" Zero asked himself. Then it hit him again. "Unless she's _not _dead. I need to know for sure! And I think I know just the person to ask." Zero said to himself. Little did he know that that was just the beginning.

Zero marched on over to Sigma's cell. Being an S-rank hunter, Zero had all the necessary clearance. Once he got there, he demanded answers. "What were you bringing up Iris for in our little talk?" Zero asked angrily. "So…you finally figured it out. I was beginning to think you never would. The reason is…well, let put it to you this way…be careful what you wish for, because you may get it! HA HA HA!" Sigma laughed. "Another riddle? Seriously? I'm a smart guy and all but this is tiresome." Zero said with a fake smile, trying to hide his excitement…and his fear.

Later that day, Zero was on patrol. He was worried. _"Is Iris back, and if she is, could there be something wrong with her? What did Sigma do?!" _ Zero thought to himself. "Hey, why the long face?" said a voice. Zero looked up. It was Axl. "Oh. Hey Axl." Zero said to Axl. "I saw you talking to Sigma. I don't know what about, but he's probably just trying to play head games with you." Axl said, hoping that would help cheer up his friend. "The problem is, Axl, that I don't know if I want it to be just a head game. You see, what Sigma is talking about takes place before you were a maverick hunter." Zero explained. "Does it have to do with Iris? I've never met her, but I heard you really liked her from X." Axl asked. "Yes, it involves Iris." Zero admitted. Actually, Zero was glad he was telling someone. "Probably just a head game, dude." Axl said. "Even so, could you do me a favor and not tell anyone? I want to keep this under wraps." Zero asked. "Sure thing. My lips are sealed!" Axl replied. "Well, I need to go to a different part of the city. See you around, Axl." Zero said as he waved his hand and walked away.

Zero took out a few bad guys, but he couldn't get Iris off his mind. He knew that he needed to get more information out of Sigma, but he also knew he had no leverage. In addition, Zero couldn't think of a way of getting leverage. Sigma had all the cards in his hands. Just then, a siren went off at the prison. "Oh no…a prison break! I hope Sigma doesn't get free! If he does…then I'll never find out about Iris!" Zero yelled to himself.

As Zero arrives at the prison, it is just as he feared. 6 criminals escaped. Sigma was among them. Zero does not show his true displeasure, but inside, Zero was angrier than ever. "I'll hunt Sigma down personally. Rest assured he will be brought to justice." Zero said as calm as he could make himself sound. "I'll help you." Axl said. "No. I'll handle it myself." Zero snapped. Axl could see that Zero was angry, and was pretty sure he knew why. "Negative, Zero. Axl will help you." a commander said. "Fine." Zero said angrily. After that, Axl and Zero departed from the prison.

"Why do you want to help me? You know I need Sigma if I am ever to truly find out if Iris is alive. That's why I wanted to hunt him down _by myself_!" Zero yelled. "I knew all of this, but friends don't let friends go it alone when the going gets tough. Friends help each other. That's why I will help you whether you like it or not! **You are my friend!**" Axl yelled back. "Axl…I'm sorry. You're right; friends help friends. If possible, though, I would like to keep X out of this. Is that OK with you?" Zero asked. "Sure thing, Zero. Now, let's go find Sigma!" Axl exclaimed.

The duo decided to look for Sigma in his old bases. They had no luck until they went to his most recent base. Sigma was not there, but a few other things were. For instance, there seemed to be blueprints for rebuilding the original mavericks. "If he could rebuild mavericks, then in theory, he could rebuild any reploid!" Axl shouted. "I know. This means that Iris could have been rebuilt!" Zero exclaimed. "Perhaps, but why would Sigma rebuild her?" Axl asked. "That's a good question, and I was thinking maybe to lure me into a trap of some sort." Zero answered. "Yeah, probably what he would do if he were to rebuild her. However, I don't see any blueprints for Iris around here." Axl said. "I know…but still." Zero replied. "Oh look, trespassers!" said a voice. Axl and Zero turn around to see Sigma. Axl pointed both his guns toward Sigma, but Zero raised his arm, signaling to Axl to put his guns down, as they needed Sigma alive. "You understand that you need me alive. Good. Do you also understand that I am the one with all the leverage and you are the ones with nothing?" Sigma taunted. "Yeah, we know. What's your point?" Zero asked. "If you want to gain anything, you will do what I say. Got it?" Sigma asked. "Zero…is it worth it? I'll stand by you no matter what, but this could potentially lead to betraying all our friends!" Axl said with worry in his voice. "I don't know…" Zero replied. "If you don't do as I say, you'll never see Iris again!" Sigma shouted, a smile on his face. "Fine…we'll do what you want…." Zero said sadly. "Good. First, you're going to get me some power cores so I can rebuild the maverick bosses. Next, you're going to sabotage the maverick hunter base's computer systems. Finally, you're going to bring me a copy of the X-buster. Once these three tasks are completed in that order, you can see Iris." Sigma commanded. "Alright, fine. However, if you're lying, I'll kill you, Iris or no Iris!" Axl yelled.

"So, do we go to a reploid building center?" asked Axl. "I was thinking we could go and take the power cores from the source. Y'know, the power core manufacturing facility." Zero replied. "Well, either way, security's gonna be top-notch. You gotta plan?" Axl asked. "You have a stealth function, don't you? I figured you could solo this one." Zero suggested. "Really? I have to solo this one? You suck…but fine, I'll do it." Axl remarked. Axl then snuck in through an air vent.

Axl crawled through the air vent until he found an opening. Once one was discovered, he slipped out of the air vent and activated his stealth mode. He quickly made his way over to the production lines and grabbed 8 power cores. However, on his way out, he got caught by a heat detecting camera. "_Oh crap! I better make a break for it!" _Axl thought. Axl dashed back to the air vent, but machine guns started to pop out of the walls, and all of them had heat sensors. Acting fast, Axl whipped out his guns and shot all the machine guns down before they could even lock on to him. Axl made it back into the air vent in the nick of time. From there, he made his getaway.

"That was quick." Zero quipped upon seeing Axl. "Yeah, well I didn't want to stick around. Phase one complete." Axl replied. "Alright. The Maverick Hunter Base's defenses are next." Zero said.

"Alright, here's the plan. This video game has the computer virus in it. You are going to plug the game into the computer and play until you hear a 'ding' noise. After that, unplug the game and make a run for it!" Zero explained. "What's the catch?" Axl asked. "You have to win at least 75% of the battles in the game, or the virus won't load. I tried to fix this, but I couldn't." Zero replied. "OK…what video game is it?" Axl asked. "Super Smash Brothers Brawl." Zero said. "God dammit! You know I'm better at Melee!" Axl replied. "I know, but we got to make do. Now go. I'll be right outside in case something goes wrong." Zero said. "Alright." Axl said back.

Axl picked Kirby as his character, set the CPU's difficulty to 5, and hit start. The CPU was set to a random character. Axl then selected the stage Castle Siege. The match began. Axl barely won, and moved on to the next match. After 5 matches, Zero said "Only two more minutes! You can do it!" _"Two minutes. That's one more match." _Axl thought. Axl started a final match.

Ike was the opponent. The stage was Final Destination. The character was Kirby. Kirby rushed in with hammer. POW! Direct hit! Ike recovered quickly, however, hitting Kirby with his forward smash. Bang! Now, Kirby ate Ike and copied his power. After that, Kirby used his up smash, followed by his neutral air, followed by his Final Cutter. The match was nearly over. Kirby managed to defeat Ike. Axl had won. "Ding!" ringed the computer. Quickly, Axl and Zero unplugged their equipment and ran.

"Thanks again for helping me Axl, and nice work." Zero applauded. "Oh, it's nothing." Axl said. "You should take a breather. Next mission's going to be all me." Zero instructed.

Axl and Zero knew that this final mission could very well be the easiest…or the hardest. They had to retrieve a physical copy of the X- buster from X himself. X was their friend; he very well may hand it over without asking what it was for. However, he may very well say no, even if they told him a convincing reason, and X could be stubborn as a mule if he wanted to be. Worst case scenario, Axl and Zero would have to do battle with X. They prayed to God it would not come to that.

X was on patrol when Axl and Zero found him. "Hey, X!" shouted Zero. X turned around. "Zero, I know you and Axl have been up to something. I won't tell anyone no matter what, but I need you to tell me what's going on." X explained. "What do you mean?" Zero asked. "Don't play dumb. I saw you deactivate the security. I know you must have your reasons, but what are those reasons?" X questioned. "Should we tell him?" Axl whispered to Zero. "Yes. I have faith he will not betray us." Zero replied. "Well?" asked X, who was growing impatient. "Alright. Sigma has, as far as we can tell, revived Iris. We have evidence to prove this. I want to save her, so I'm…doing a few favors for him." Zero said sadly. "You IDIOT! Sigma probably planned this whole thing! He's almost certainly lying to you, and even if he's not, do you really think it's worth it if he destroys the world?!" X asked angrily. "I'll kill him if he's lying. In addition, I really don't think anything we've done could directly destroy the world. He only wants us to do one more favor, and that's to retrieve a copy of your X- buster. Will you help us?" Zero asked. "Zero…fine, I'll play along, but if he double crosses you, you have to kill him, Iris or no Iris!" X replied. Zero's face lit up. "I knew I could count on you!" Zero exclaimed. "One other condition: I'm coming with you." X said. "The more the merrier, I always say!" Axl replied.

The group went to X's house and retrieved a copy of the X buster from there. Then, it was off to Sigma's base. Zero was afraid, but knew he could rely on his friends. This was it. This determined everything.

The team arrived at Sigma's base. "Sigma, we're back, and with everything you requested!" Zero shouted. Sigma then revealed himself. "Good work. I see X has joined you. Well, I may be a maverick, but I am a man of my word. Give me the items." Sigma demanded. Zero did as instructed. "One moment." Sigma said. Sigma disappeared, and two minutes later, he came back out with an unconscious Iris. "Oh my God! Iris!" Zero shouted with excitement. "Iris…DESTROY THEM!" Sigma bellowed. Suddenly, Iris awoke, her eyes glowing an eerie red. X immediately noticed that Iris was wearing the X-buster. Axl did as well. Zero, on the other hand, was consumed with rage. Sigma was going to force him to kill Iris again.

At first, Zero tried to lunge at Sigma. This did not work, as Iris simply shot Zero with a fully charged buster blast. X shot Iris with a weak blast, then punched her in the face. Axl was preparing for a follow-up, but Zero stopped him. "Good luck. HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Sigma laughed as he got away.

"I want to save her! X, can you reverse Sigma's programming?" Zero shouted. "Maybe, but that's going to take time to prepare. Defend me until then!" X replied. Zero had a sudden burst of hope. Maybe Iris could still be saved after all. "Axl, maneuver 4-A!" Zero shouted. First, Axl used his guns to trip Iris. Next, Zero used his Z-buster to stun Iris, preventing her from getting up. Finally, Axl shot her in the back repeatedly. Iris fell unconscious. "That should keep her out for a while. X, how long will this take?" Zero asked. "Only about a minute or so. The corruption is in the buster. Sigma must have had it ready." X replied. "In that case, I'm going after Sigma!" Zero said.

"Sigma! You and me! NOW!" Zero yelled. "Very well. Prepare to meet your maker!" Sigma replied, pulling out a beam sword. The two charge at each other, and their swords clash. Zero swings aggressive, but focused, strikes. Sigma blocks every hit, however, and uses heat vision to counterattack. Zero gets knocked down, but springs right back up. Zero then jumps up and their swords clash again. Sigma began to gain the upper hand by using his heat vision to hit Zero's eyes. Zero quickly recovers, and uses his Z-buster, followed by a rolling slash. Sigma blocks this but is left open as a result, and Zero impales him with his sword. "ARGH!" screamed Sigma. "Fall, vile maverick!" Zero yelled. Zero then twists his sword right into Sigma's power core, killing him instantly.

"It's over…." Zero said, breathing a sigh of relief. "Hey Zero," Axl shouted, "Got someone I think you'll like to meet!" Axl and X then reveal Iris. "Iris?" Zero asked. "Zero!" Iris exclaimed. They hug. "Zero…I know you killed my brother in self-defense, but…I forgive you…and…I…I love you!" Iris exclaimed, crying tears of joy. "I love you too, Iris!" Zero cried. Finally reunited, Zero and Iris kiss.

The End


End file.
